Stainer, will it solve my problem?

[Sled491]

So, as i have posted before, my 325 eats coolant hoses. This fall the dealer said they would flush the system and check things out. While they didn't do a complete flush they did fond some sand and attempted to clean it out.

So after I brought her home, I fired her up with the fake lake to get her winterized. Boat ran fine and got up to temp and stayed right where it was supposed to. I drained and changed the oil and then started opening up the coolant system to drain. All was going well until I got to the starboard side engine plug. I was very tight and when I got it out it was packed with fine sand.

My dealer gave some advise on how to deal with this and I'll proceed this direction.

My question is, it I put a water stainer on the PU line will it keep this fine sand away from the coolant system, or will the sand find its way through?

As a notable point, so far my impellor after 2 years shows no sign of wear. I'm changing it out anyway, but to me it still looks brand new.

[zegm]

Sled,

The water strainer has a metal screen in it that prevents damaging items from passing. But not sure if the mesh is small enough to prevent silty sand from going through, but if it was oriented right it might be a place where it would settle first? I don't know who manufactured our strainer but I think if you could look them up on the internet they could help you out. I will look in the boat tomorrow and see who's name is on it.

[zabooda]

I know from experience using irrigation water from the river at my home is the more restrictive the filter the more you have to clean it. The rule of thumb is don't make your filter size any smaller than what can go through your system. With that said, some sand will be in the system and the older boats that used to have the petcocks you would put a wire in the hole to make sure nothing is plugging it. If I remember right, you would kick up the sand at your boat dock so you may have to address how to get through the shallows without kicking the sand up.

[Sled491]

Maybe the strainer won't stop all sand but it has to be a better solution. You are right though, the water level at my lift fluctuates during a normal summer by a foot. At the low end it takes a lot of throttle to get off and on the lift. While there is a big hole behind the boat from prop wash, it still creates one heck of a cloud. Also as you drive out to the deeper water you are churning up sand the whole way, you can actually hear the prop digging through the sand.

[qb12]

i've got one that i will sell you for a good price. never used.

just pm me if interested.

[Mikey]

I have the factory strainer on my Outback and i always dump/clean at the end of each day out and occasionally during a long day will have a look at it.All the times i've cleaned it it has Never had sand in it . Mostly weed bits and Algae etc but not sand. I guess if particles were big enough and got sucked up it would catch them but otherwise they go right through.
I don't run in those conditions all that often but as noted ,I've never had to clean out Sand.

[MasterMind3002]

I too have a strainer on my boat due to the weedy conditions we have during certain times of the year. And I too have issues with water level flucuation forcing me to throttle on and off the lift. My factory strainer doesn't catch any sand. Zero! So I'm guessing if sand is your problem then the factory strainer isn't gonna cut it.

Did you blow the same hoses repeatedly or different ones each time?

[Sled491]

Except for the one that blew at the 1st 45 min mark of ownership, the last 3 have all been the same. It is the 1st hose out of the pump before the heading into the engine. It is connected to the tranny cooler.

[moombadaze]

hey Sled, can you repost exactly what is blowing? does the hose burst? or just come unclamped? i work with a bunch of tech's and would like to ask them what they think.

[MasterMind3002]

Except for the one that blew at the 1st 45 min mark of ownership, the last 3 have all been the same. It is the 1st hose out of the pump before the heading into the engine. It is connected to the tranny cooler.

It could be that you've always had some restriction in the block forcing the pressure to build up in that hose causing it to blow.

Do you notice the exhaust changing tones when the engine overheats or does it sound the same. The reason I ask is because my boat will get louder as it gets less water. I'm wondering if you've ever gotten good water flow thru that engine. What does your temp gage usually read? Mine reads around 160. I've winterized lots of inboards over the years and I've never seen sand come out of the block.

[Sled491]

No, I have never heard a change in the engine sound. In fact the motor has never really overheated. Only after the hose bursts does the temp shoot up and we shut it down asap. One of those dealer walk through points that kind of stuck, always watch the temp gauge. Our engine ran all summer in the 180 range.

I must admit that last summer it ran in the 160 range, or so I think.

[Sled491]

hey Sled, can you repost exactly what is blowing? does the hose burst? or just come unclamped? i work with a bunch of tech's and would like to ask them what they think.

Sorry Daze missed this. No the hose bursts. Almost in the middle, but along its length. Inside of the hose looked chewed up, but again it is after the impellor and the impellor is fine.

[JesseC]

Could you take a picture of the hose that is failing? I would almost bet that there is some kind of exhaust leak heating the hose in the failure area causing it to burst.

[Sled491]

Just got my strainer that I boutght from QB. As adevertisd, brand new and he threw in a couple barbs for it as well. Another thing to add to the winter projects list. Thanks!

Jesse, I have taken the picks you asked for, but we just blew up both our computers and now have switched over to Vista, and lets just say it's a learning curve for us non techie types.

I also just changed out the water pump impellor and I took pics of that as well. It is however in perfect condition.